What they say...

Match Review

Roderick WEUSTHOF (NED)

On whether it was the best atmosphere he has ever experienced: "Yes, you could say so. This has never happened to me before with the team. It was unbelievable. (It was) one big party. There was a lot of Dutch fans, but (many) as well from Great Britain. You couldn't hear each other in the match. It's unbelievable playing in this atmosphere. It's really nice."

On the importance of taking a 2-0 lead within 15 minutes: "It was really important because we know that Great Britain are capable to make goals out of corners or just hitting the ball into the D. They are really dangerous. Being 2-0 up in a short period was a great start. (It was) really important because then they had to come and they gave away much more space. For our game and team, that was really nice."

On playing in one of the biggest wins ever in Netherlands hockey: "This is a great thing. I was sitting on the bench with Teun de Nooijer and he said 'I have played a lot of semifinals, but it has never happened this big before, it is the first time ever, it is a part of history now'. It was unbelievable."

On the confidence they can take into the final against Germany: "I think we can have a lot of confidence from this game, but not just this game, even from the games before. I think we play our best games now for a few years so we have a lot of confidence. We have already beaten Germany before in the pool phase and we know we can do it because when we work like this and when we give each other the balls and believe in it, nobody can stop us."

Floris EVERS (NED) - captain 

On the match: "I am really proud of our team. We kept on playing even when we were 4-1, I told them 'You have to play hockey and play, play, play'. We have to just continue to play the game. They (GBR) played very well, but they lost the last penalty corner and we scored and it was our day."

On the final against Germany: "Tomorrow when we wake up we will plan our match with Germany. Germany plays a different game from Great Britain. It will be a tough game. You can't compare this one. Tonight I want to enjoy."

Jason LEE (GBR) - coach

 On the result: "We all very embarrased with the result, mostly the performance. Holland made the pitch very big for us so we had a lot of one-on-one battles and, in the end, we lost a lot of them. I think we were a little bit slack for a few of the goals, but when it got to 4-1 our intention was to try and get back and so we kept trying to attack and that opened us up and we got reckless far too early. At 3-1 and 4-1, we felt we still had a chance, but our game just got too sloppy."

On the team: "Seven years ago we were ranked 11th in the world. We had ambitions and we have acheived them (getting to 4th). I think I heard something like Holland have only missed one semifinal in over 30 years, so that's what we were up against. It's embarrassing to be on the wrong side of it (the result) tonight."

On what they will do to get the team ready for their bronze medal match (v Australia) on Saturday: "It's no easy challenge. We got the basics wrong tonight and that won't be easy to get back. The immediate reaction is to point fingers, but that's not going to help. Showing some fight is the closest we're going to get (to the medal), fight which we didn't show tonight."

Ben HAWES (GBR)

On the result and performance: "We've come up against a very good side today and not turned up. In any international sport if you don't turn up from the start you're up against it. There's no doubt we believed we could contend with Holland today, but too many of us didn't turn up, and there was too much looking at each other and no one taking responsibility."

"I think we showed some naivety at times and they just rolled past us and seemed to want it more. When we've got four or five guys overloading us and tapping in at the back post then there's something seriously wrong. It's difficult so quickly after the game to put your finger on it, but I think it's just really bitterly disappointing.

"We've worked so hard to get to this position and get ourselves in the semifinal for it to turn out like that. You get what you deserve in sport and today we didn't deserve anything. We've got to try and pick ourselves up again, the expectation, the crowd and everything has been brilliant and we've let ourselves down. We need to look in the mirror and take a look at ourselves and prepare for a tough game against Australia on Saturday." 

On whether the team was nervous: "No definitely not. We actually started OK. I think, if anything, maybe we underestimated the occasion and Holland. We've had some good results against them recently and they've clearly been playing some good hockey, but there's not seven goals between us and them and that's what's so disappointing. I think we can all accept losing to better sides on the day, but to lose like that is what makes it just so bitterly disappointing."